Wire cutting device



Feb. 8, 1966 D. s. FOOTE -l-AL 3,233,491

WIRE CUTTING DEVICE Filed March 22, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Feb. 8, 1966 D. s. FOOTE ETAL WIRE CUTTING DEVICE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 22, 1963 e zfoks'ein,

f7) vane/021s: flona/a 5. FooZ'Je, Georg MW The/r flzfi-arneys United States Patent 3,233,491 WIRE CUTTING DEVICE Donald S. Foote, Greens Farms, and George R. Eckstein,

Fairlield, Conn., assignors to Remington Arms Company, Inc., Bridgeport, Conn, a corporation of Delaware Filed Mar. 22, 1963, Ser. No. 267,142 Claims. (Cl. 83592) This invention relates in general to a high speed wire chopping device. More specifically, the invention relates to a continuous chopping device by which lead or other metal wire can be severed into uniformly sized blanks as a high rate of speed.

In the making of shot by a mechanical impacting process, as explained in co-pending application Serial Number 220,222, the initial step requires the introduction of small lead or other metal non-spherical blanks into a revolving drum. Inasmuch as the cost of these metal blanks is an important consideration in determining whether this mechanical process of forming shot is economically feasible to replace existing shot towers, it becomes important to have a machine by which very large quantities of metal blanks can be severed from metal wire at low cost. A further requirement is that the machine be inexpensive in itself and that the volume of the slug or blank is uniform so that excessive sizing and grading of the shot pellets will not be required.

In addition to the use of metal blanks mentioned above, there are other uses for either cubical or cylindrical metal blanks so that a machine to produce these blanks in large amounts at relatively low cost is highly desirable.

It is an object of this invention to provide a device to cut lead or other soft metal wire into small elements or slugs which have uniform volume.

It is another object of this invention to provide a continuous shearing device with which soft metal wire can be severed into small elements at high speed.

It is another object to provide a low cost wire chopper.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent after reading the following description and the accompanying drawings in which FIGURE 1 shows a side View of the device showing the intermeshing teeth and the grooves in each disc.

FIGURE 2 shows an end view of the device.

FIGURE 3 shows a top perspective view.

FIGURE 4 shows an enlarged view of the intermeshing teeth and showing how the metal blanks are sheared in alternate directions.

FIGURE 5 is a section view taken on line 55 of FIGURE 4.

Referring to the drawings, frame includes a pair of parallel support members 12 and 14 on which two pairs of spaced-apart, pillow type bearing blocks, 16a, 16b and 18a, 18b are mounted. Positioned to rotate within the bearings 16a and 16b is a short shaft 20 on which a hub 22 is rigidly secured to rotate therewith. Hub 22 consists of a one-piece member including a small diameter cylindrical end portion 22a and a larger diameter cylindrical end portion 22b with a perpendicular face or flange 24 therebetween. I

Disc 26 has a central opening 28 therein having a diameter slightly larger than the diameter of hub portion 22a so that the disc can be slidably positioned on the hub portion 22a. The rear face 30 of disc 26 abuts against hub flange 24 which acts as a stop means to prevent further axial movement of the disc on the hub. A plurality of elongated openings 32 are provided in the disc 26 in alignment with tapped holes 34 in the hub 22b. Bolts 36 are inserted in these openings and are tightened so as to pull the disc 26 against the hub flange 24 to hold the disc 26 and hub 22 together and prevent relative move- "ice ment between the parts. The function of slots 32 will be explained later.

Shaft 20 extends through bearing block 16b and has a gear 40 keyed thereto so that upon rotation of the gear, the shaft 20 and the disc 26 move therewith.

Disc 26 consists of a circular plate which has a flat rear face 30 and which has a circumferential rim 42 on the front face. Rim 42 comprises spaced radial teeth 44 projecting outwardly from the front face a distance of about 1 /2 times the size of the wire to be cut. The cutting edges 46 of the tooth are contiguous with the periphery of the disc and the tooth extends radially inwardly toward the center of the disc for a distance of approximately twice the wire size. Separating the teeth 44 from each other are radially extending grooves 48 which act as guide means as will be explained later. The grooves are slightly wider than the teeth (0.001" to 0.002).

Shaft 50, a driving shaft which is longer than driven shaft 20, is positioned to rotate in bearing blocks 18a and 18b on an axis parallel to the axis of shaft 20. As can be seen in FIGURE 3, the shaft 50 extends outwardly of bearing block 18a so that a chain drive 52 or other suitable transmission means can be attached to a prime mover, which when actuated rotates the shaft 50.

A hub 54 is mounted on shaft 50 much the same as hub 22 is mounted on shaft 20 except that the larger diameter hub portion 56 and the smaller diameter hub portion 58 are reversed in relation to their counterparts on shaft 20 (members 22b and 22a). A disc 60 is mounted on the hub 54 and has rim 62 and its teeth 64 and grooves 66 face in the opposite direction to disc 26 and teeth 44. It is noted that discs 26 and 60 are offset from one another but that teeth 44 and 64 rotate in the same vertical plane. Discs 26 and 66 are identical in size.

Shaft 50 also extends outwardly past bearing block 18b and has a gear 68 keyed thereto. Gear 68 and gear 40 rotate in the same vertical plane and intermesh with one another so that upon rotation of shaft 50, the shaft 20 rotates in the opposite direction.

The function of slots 32 can now be explained. These slots in which the holding bolts 36 pass permit the indexing of the discs 26 and 60 into mesh. As mentioned above, the toothed rims 42 and 62 rotate in the same vertical plane. By loosening the bolts 36 and moving the disc 26 by utilizing slots 32, each tooth 44 of disc 26 can be positioned so that it is directly opposite a groove 66 of disc 60 at the approximate tangential meeting point of the rotating discs 26 and 60.

It can be seen from FIGURES 4 and 5 that there is a small overlap where the discs meet. This is done so that the metal blanks are sheared clean from the wire.

Mounted directly above and between the oppositely rotating discs is a wire guide 70 having an opening 72 through which the wire 74 is fed to the shearing discs.

Operation FIGURE 4 shows the shearing sequence which occurs when a lead or other soft metal wire 74 is fed through the wire guide 70 into the oppositely revolving discs 26 and 60. It can be seen that each tooth of each disc displaces substantially the same volume of metal outwardly into a corresponding adjacent groove on the opposite disc. Inasmuch as there is a slight overlap of the discs, the metal blanks should be completely severed at the time the wires reaches the approximate point of tangency of the discs.

It can be seen that the discs 26 and 60 are geared together and that the pitch diameter of the gears 40 and 68 are identical to the disc diameter. Thus, by actuating a motor or some other prime mover to which the chain 52 is connected, the shaft 50 and the disc 60 and gear 68 are rotated which in turn rotate gear 40 along with shaft 20 and disc 26. Particular care is taken to fit the keys and keyways in the hub of gears 40 and 68 with drive fits so that the gears are meshed practically without clearance in order to prevent backlash.

The wire is sheared continuously as long as the discs are rotating and the Wire is being .fed. The actual cutting rate, of course, depends on the rotating speed of the discs. After becoming sheared, the metal blanks '76 may be frictionally caught in the grooves until the disc makes a complete revolution at Which time another blank will be forced into the groove and the inner blank thus pushed out of the groove into the hopper 78 mounted beneath the frame 10.

It will be appreciated that although a single preferred embodiment is shown, there are various modifications which can be made which will be within the scope of the appending claims. For example, the teeth and grooves can be thicker, longer, or at angle to the true radial. The specification then merely discloses one embodiment which has been shown to be the preferred embodiment.

What is claimed is:

1. A wire cutting device comprising a pair of discs mounted in parallel and laterally-spaced relationship on spaced-apart, parallel shafts, means to rotate said shafts in opposite directions so that one disc rotates clockwise and the second disc rotates counterclockwise, rim means positioned on the inner side face of each of said discs and rota-table therewith in a common plane, said rim means comprising a plurality of radially extending teeth separated by similarly directed slots positioned around the periphery of each of the discs, said discs being mounted on the shafts in such manner that the outer peripheral edges of the teeth of one disc are in circumferential alignment with the slots of the opposite disc and the arc transcribed by the edges of the teeth of one disc overlaps slightly the are transcribed by the teeth edges of the opposite disc, where when a wire is fed between the rotating, intermeshing teeth, consecutive wire sections are laterally displaced by each tooth on each disc into the corresponding groove in the opposite disc thus effecting alternate lateral shearing of the wire.

2. A wire shearing device comprising a pair of discs of substantially equal diameter, means to rotate said discs in opposite directions at the same speed, teeth means integral with each of said discs and projecting outwardly from a side face of said discs in a direction substantially perpendicular to the planes of said discs, the teeth means of one disc being oppositely directed to the teeth means of the other disc, means mounting said discs so that the teeth means rotate in a common plane in approximately tangential relationship with each other, means feeding a 50 wire continuously into the rotating teeth means, and guide means positioned on each of said discs in cooperating relaltionship with said teeth means so that said :wire is sheared and displaced laterally through the guide means on both discs. 7

3. A wire shearing device as recited in claim 2 wherein said guide means comprises a plurality of grooves on each disc positioned so as to be in circumferential alignment with the teeth means on the opposite disc, each groove defined by three guide faces, two of which are surfaces on adjacent teeth means and the third guide face being defined by the associated disc side face.

4. A wire shearing device as recited in claim 2 in which said teeth means and guide means are circumferentially spaced about the periphery of the discs and extend radially towards the center of the discs for a predetermined distance thus forming a series of elongated, openended grooves into which the cut sections are forced and frictionally held until they are pushed out of the grooves by subsequently cut sections which are sheared and forced into the grooves in like manner.

5. A wire shearing device comprising a pair of discs, means mounting said discs to rotate in parallel, offset planes in opposite directions at approximately the same speed, a plurality of circumtterentially spaced, elongated teeth means projecting outwardly from the inside face of each of said discs in a direction approximately perpendicular to the plane of said discs and extending radially for a limited distance towards the centers of the discs, guide means comprising elongated, open-ended grooves defined by said spaced teeth means and the associated side face of said discs, the teeth means of said discs being positioned to rotate in a common plane in such a way that each tooth will be in circumferential alignment with a corresponding groove on the opposite disc at a point where the teeth of both discs meet in approximately tangential relationship whereupon when a wire is fed between the rotating teeth means, the wire is alternatively sheared in opposite directions and forced into the open-ended guide means towards the centers of the discs.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 186,109 1/1877 Clark 83-670 1,857,669 5/1932 Sundback. 3,106,859 19/1963 Huffman 83345 FOREIGN PATENTS 216,014 7/1958 Australia. 466,845 10/ 1928 Germany.

WILLIAM W. DYER, JR., Primary Examiner.

ANDREW R. JUHASZ, Examiner. 

1. A WIRE CUTTING DEVICE COMPRISING A PAIR OF DISCS MOUNTED IN PARALLEL AND LATERALLY-SPACED RELATIONSHIP ON SPACED-APART, PARALLEL SHAFTS, MEANS TO ROTATE SAID SHAFTS IN OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS SO THAT ONE DISC ROTATES CLOCKWISE AND THE SECOND DISC ROTATES COUNTERCLOCKWISE, RIM MEANS POSITIONED ON THE INNER SIDE FACE OF EACH OF SAID DISCS AND ROTATABLE THEREWITH IN A COMMON PLANE, SAID RIM MEANS COMPRISING A PLURALITY OF RADIALLY EXTENDING TEETH SEPARATED BY SIMILARLY DIRECTED SLOTS POSITIONED AROUND THE PERIPHERY OF EACH OF THE DISC, SAID DISCS BEING MOUNTED ON THE SHAFTS IN SUCH MANNER THAT THE OUTER PERIPHERAL EDGES OF THE TEETH OF ONE DISC ARE IN CIRCUMFERENTIAL ALIGNMENT WITH THE SLOTS OF THE OPPOSITE DISC AND THE ARC TRANSCRIBED BY THE EDGES OF THE TEETH OF ONE DISC OVERLAPS SLIGHTLY THE ARC TRANSCRIBED BY THE TEETH EDGES OF THE OPPOSITE DISC, WHERE WHEN A WIRE IS FED BETWEEN THE ROTATING, INTERMESHING TEETH, CONSECUTIVE WIRE SECTIONS ARE LATERALLY DISPLACED BY EACH TOOTH ON EACH DISC INTO THE CORRESPONDING GROOVE IN THE OPPOSITE DISC THUS EFFECTING ALTERNATE LATERAL SHEARING OF THE WIRE. 